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Evolutionary scholars have highlighted how there are two normative approaches to enhancing one's status: dominance and prestige. Several individual differences have been found to differentially predict dominance and prestige status-seeking. The four socially aversive personality dimensions embodied within the Dark Tetrad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) seem to be important in understanding the nuance between dominance and prestige. Nonetheless, few researchers have assessed these relations and it is unclear what behavioural mechanisms may facilitate status-striving orientations among those with 'darker' personality traits. In the current study, 516 North American adults (M.sub.age = 37.90, SD = 12.76; 53.1% women) completed self-report measures for the Dark Tetrad, dominance and prestige status-striving, and the perpetration of indirect aggression. Using path analysis, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, but not sadism, positively predicted dominance status-striving, whereas only narcissism positively predicted prestige. The perpetration of indirect aggression was found to mediate the links between psychopathy and sadism with dominance status-striving. Results reaffirm the importance of considering more malevolent personality characteristics regarding the different ways in which adults strive for, accrue, and maintain status. The strategic use of indirect aggression may be a salient means through which those higher in psychopathy and sadism pursue dominance status-striving., Author(s): Adam C. Davis [sup.1] , Tracy Vaillancourt [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.28046.38, 0000 0001 2182 2255, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, , 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, K1N6N5, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada [...]

The current study investigated the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO), aggression, sense of superiority, external value and meaning in life (MIL) in a sample of 291 college students. Results showed that SDO and aggression positively correlated with sense of superiority and external value. Mediating effect analysis revealed that SDO could satisfied an individual's external value through the mediating role of sense of superiority or the chain mediating role of aggression and sense of superiority, thus enabling people to experience MIL. These results play an important role in understanding MIL. External value may be the most important source of an individual's MIL. All behaviors that help individuals obtain external values can enable them to acquire MIL, even if some of these behaviors violate the moral rules that society upholds., Author(s): Chengquan Zhu [sup.1] , Ruiying Su [sup.1] , Xun Zhang [sup.1] , Yuanyuan Yin [sup.2] , Yanan Liu [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.207374.5, 0000 0001 2189 3846, Department of [...]

This study examined the relations among social dominance orientation (SDO), social contact, and attitudes toward international students. SDO was positively associated with prejudice against international students, perception of threats from international students, and exclusionism. Men had a higher level of SDO than women, but SDO had a greater effect on female exclusionism. The results show that SDO did not directly predict a general attitude toward international students. Prejudice predicted unfavorable attitudes, but threat perception and exclusionism did not, indicating that the mechanism underlying the effect of SDO on attitudes toward international students was through prejudice rather than threat perception and exclusionism. The negative effect of prejudice remained after controlling for the effect of social contact. However, social contact contributed to a favorable attitude toward international students. Both the number of international-student friends and personal relations with them had positive effects., Author(s): Yida Zhai [sup.1] , Lingbo Zhang [sup.1] , Zheng Yan [sup.1] , Yuxin Wei [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.16821.3c, 0000 0004 0368 8293, School of International and Public Affairs, [...]

Sexual prejudice refers to negative attitudes towards individuals based on their sexual orientation. Scholars have shown an interest in identifying the factors that may increase the probability of prejudice against sexual minorities. The current study investigates in particular the main and interactive effects of the participants' social dominance orientation (SDO) and gender role orientation on their attitudes toward gay men and lesbians in a Turkish sample. It examines whether the effect of SDO on prejudiced attitudes would be stronger among individuals with high adherence to traditional gender roles. A total of 250 heterosexual university students filled out a questionnaire consisting of items designed to measure their SDO, gender role orientation and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. The results overall revealed that SDO, femininity (among females) and masculinity (among males) are positively related to prejudiced attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Supporting expectations, SDO and femininity interact in predicting sexual prejudice. However, masculinity does not interact with participants' SDO. The supplementary analyses also revealed that the effect of SDO on prejudiced attitudes was stronger among female participants with high femininity scores and among male participants with lower femininity scores. These findings indicate that a general preference for group inequality and endorsement of traditional gender role predispose individuals to be prejudiced against gay men and lesbians. Thus, the present study supplements the related literature by examining the interactive effects of SDO and gender role orientation in Turkey, a non-Western cultural context. It also provides important implications for researchers and practitioners in terms of developing strategies to reduce prejudice against sexual minorities., Author(s): Irem Metin-Orta [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.440424.2, 0000 0004 0595 4604, Department of Psychology, Atilim University, , Ankara, Turkey In July 2008, 'A.Y. -a 26-year-old physic student- was shot [...]

This article explores the complexity of women's experiences of coercive control during childbearing, birthing and postpartum and investigates the importance of health practitioners' responses to women's experiences. Research questions were: 'What cues, from women's lived experiences, indicate that coercive control is being exerted by their partners?' and 'how can health practitioners recognise coercive control during pregnancy, birthing and post-partum?'. The qualitative study drew on relational empowerment to access rich data. Sixteen women in Australia participated in the research. Following the temporal sequence of pregnancy, birthing and postpartum, health workers responses are examined. Themes identified included: reproductive coercion followed by coercive control of ante-natal care, control during birthing, intersections with cultural expectations, partner's self-obsession, grandstanding after a birth, and women's feelings of isolation. Women's experience of coercive control, their sense of isolation or, alternatively, support ultimately affected their ability to remove themselves and their children from the abusive situation. Health practitioners' responses either helped women to identify their partner's behaviors as abusive or exacerbated women's feelings of isolation. The research suggests that health practitioners' acknowledgement of coercive control, and the involvement of social workers conversant with feminist informed dynamics of domestic violence, can impact positively on women's agency., Author(s): Fiona Buchanan [sup.1] , Cathy Humphreys [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.1026.5, 0000 0000 8994 5086, Justice and Society, University of South Australia, , GPO Box 2471, 5001, Adelaide, South [...]

According to social cognitive theories of post-traumatic stress, trauma may increase an individual's need for control. Research has yet to explore this process as it relates to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). This study examined whether power and control-related cognitions explain the relationship between trauma (i.e. trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms) and IPV perpetration. During the intake assessment at a community-based IPV intervention program, male IPV perpetrators (N = 195) provided data on trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress symptoms, relationship problems, and IPV perpetration. A composite measure of power and control-related cognitions was created using existing intake items from several measures through theoretical and statistical considerations, including factor analysis and internal consistency analyses. The composite measure of power and control-related cognitions had sufficient reliability to support a preliminary test of the hypothesized mediational model. Power and control-related cognitions were positively associated with trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress symptoms, relationship problems, and emotional abuse, but not with physical assault. Power and control mediated the association between trauma exposure and emotional abuse, but did not significantly mediate any associations between post-traumatic stress symptoms and partner abuse perpetration. These findings suggest that trauma is associated with the need for power and control often observed among IPV perpetrators, and that this process is particularly apparent with respect to emotional abuse perpetration. The results highlight the need for additional research on social cognitive mediators of the associations between trauma and IPV., Author(s): Ana I. Maldonado [sup.1] , Christopher M. Murphy [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411024.2, 0000 0001 2175 4264, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, , Baltimore County (UMBC), 1000 Hilltop [...]

Power and dominance are widely recognized as fundamental concepts in the study of human relationships. A theory of power, Dunbar's dyadic power theory (DPT), was tested experimentally by manipulating power in interactions with confederate strangers. Participants' verbal and nonverbal dominance behaviors were coded from videotapes of their interactions. DPT proposes that individuals will display more dominance in equal power relationships than in unequal relationships and increasing an individual's relative power will increase that individual's satisfaction with the encounter. The results revealed that the equal-power and unequal high-power conditions displayed more dominance and were more satisfied than those in the unequal low-power conditions but those in the unequal-high power condition were the least affected by their partners and maintained the most control over the partnership's decisions. Implications for DPT and the relationship between microlevel dominance behaviors and the macrolevel impressions of dominant interactants are discussed. Keywords: Observations; Dyadic Power; Interpersonal Interaction; Interpersonal Dominance; Nonverbal Communication DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2010.520018

The Motivational Style Profile for Children (MSP-C) was designed to measure the dominances, orientations and saliences of motivational states in children. The results of reliability testing and factor analysis followed by parallel analysis of the 50-item, 25-paired, and 15-paired versions for cultural samples suggests the MSP-C may be a viable and reliable instrument for the measurement of motivational characteristics of children between 9 and 15 years of age. Significant cultural differences in motivational characteristics were found, in that Hong Kong children were more telic-, arousal avoiding-, and mastery-dominant compared to the British and French children, suggesting the predominant influence of the Chinese Confucian values. Future research is recommended to test the psychometric properties of the 15-paired version of the measure for different cultural samples. Keywords Reversal theory, Motivation, Personality, Dominance, Salience, Culture, Over the last three decades, increasing research efforts have been made to understand human behaviour by taking individual motivational characteristics into consideration using Apter's (2001, 2005, 2007) 'reversal theory' framework. [...]

This study addresses forceful submission fantasies in men and women. Although many approaches implicitly or explicitly cast women's force fantasies in a pathological light, this study seeks to explore the associations of such fantasy to female power. By adopting an evolutionary meta-theoretical perspective (and a resource control theory perspective), it was hypothesized that highly agentic, dominant women prefer forceful submission fantasies (more than subordinate women) as a means to connect them to agentic, dominant men. In addition, it is suggested that dominant women would ascribe a meaning to the object of the fantasy different from that assigned by subordinate women (i.e., 'warrior lover' vs. 'white knight'). Two studies were conducted with nearly 900 college students (men and women) from a large Midwestern university. Hypotheses were largely supported Analysis of meaning supports theoretical perspectives proposing that forceful submission reflects desires for sexual power on behalf of the fantasist. Implications for evolutionary approaches to human mate preferences are discussed, Jenise slowly unlocked his manacled wrists. Perhaps she had made a mistake. [Gian] was much more imposing standing before her, unchained! ... He expertly cornered her. His large hands reaching [...]

Social psychological investigations of hierarchy formation have been almost entirely confined to the ease of task-oriented groups and hence have produced theories that turn on the existence of such a task. But other forms of vertical hierarchy may emerge in non-task groups. One form, orderings of dominance, has been studied among animals using systematic behavioral observations, but almost never among humans, despite many discussions of such structures existing among adolescent males. Using stochastic models, this paper examines change in vertical orderings for data on dominance encounters among same-sex adolescent campers. There seem to be different paths for stabilization of vertical hierarchies for boys and girls, both of which involve the emergence of special roles, the top boy or the bottom girl. Further, stabilization seems to be greatly facilitated (at least for boys) by members adopting Roger Gould's theory of dominance encounters and turning their attention to those close in rank.

Anger is a basic emotion experienced in several aversive situations, in this study, the relation between Anger, Fear, and Sadness, as well as the dimensions of Valence, Arousal, and Dominance, were examined. It was hypothesized that pictures showing an Intention to Harm would evoke not only Anger, but also Fear and Sadness, and that this would be correlated with low Valence, high Arousal, and high Dominance. To this end, 45 healthy volunteers (25 women and 20 men; M age = 27.2 yr., SD = 9.5) recorded appraisals for each of these emotional experience while viewing 120 pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System. Data were analyzed with a linear mixed model and a hierarchical classes approach to identify differences and correlations between emotional categories. Results indicate that those pictures showing Intention to Harm generate higher Anger and Fear, while pictures representing Frustration of Goals leads to higher Sadness. In addition, high Anger, Fear, and Sadness are associated with low Valence, moderate Arousal, and high Dominance. Same sex differences in emotional responses were also found. These findings suggest that the experience of Anger requires the inference of the other's mental and physical state and need the regulation of cognitive and affective systems acting together. The study of this emotion should consider both categorical and dimensional approaches in order to define its coherent features.

The effect of realistic threat on social dominance orientation (SDO) was tested. It was observed that realistic threat does increase SDO for highly-identified group members.

The authors examined preschoolers' aggressive and cooperative behaviors and their associations with social dominance. First and as predicted, directly observed aggressive interactions decreased across the school year, and same-sex aggression occurred more frequently than cross-sex aggression. Next, the authors examined the relation between aggression and reconciliation, cooperation, and social display variables. Teacher ratings of children's aggression related to observed aggression but not to observed 'wins' of aggressive bouts. Instead, wins were related to cooperation and display variables. Finally, they examined the relative power of wins and cooperation in predicting 2 measures of social dominance. After age was controlled, wins alone predicted teacher-rated social dominance. Results are discussed in terms of different forms of competition and how school ethos affects these forms. Keywords: social dominance, contest competition, scramble competition

When dilemmas require trade-offs between profits and ethics, do leaders high in social dominance orientation (SDO) and followers high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) make decisions that are more unethical than those made by others? This issue was explored in 4 studies with female participants performing managerial role-playing tasks. First, dyads comprising a person who was either low or high in SDO and a person who was either low or high in RWA negotiated for a leadership position. People high in SDO were more likely to obtain leader positions than to obtain follower positions. No other effects were significant. Second, leaders high in SDO partnered with an agreeable (confederate) follower made decisions that were more unethical than those of leaders low in SDO. Third, followers high in RWA were more acquiescent to and supportive of an unethical (confederate) leader than were followers low in RWA. Fourth, high SDO leader-high RWA follower dyads made decisions that were more unethical than those made in role-reversed dyads because leaders had more influence. Implications of these results for conceptualizing SDO, RWA, and authoritarian dynamics are discussed. Keywords: social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, unethical decision making, leadership

Why do some people strive for high status, whereas others actively avoid it? In the present studies, the authors examined the psychological and physiological consequences of a mismatch between baseline testosterone and a person's current level of status. The authors tested this mismatch effect by placing high and low testosterone individuals into high or low status positions using a rigged competition. In Study 1, low testosterone participants reported greater emotional arousal, focused more on their status, and showed worse cognitive functioning in a high status position. High testosterone participants showed this pattern in a low status position. In Study 2, the emotional arousal findings were replicated with heart rate, and the cognitive findings were replicated using a math test. In Study 3, the authors demonstrate that testosterone is a better predictor of behavior than self-report measures of the need for dominance. Discussion focuses on the value of measuring hormones in personality and social psychology. Keywords: testosterone, status, individual differences

The present studies reinvigorate the construct of traitedness from a cognitive perspective. Tendencies toward habit (vs. flexibility) were assessed by examining response dominance performance within choice reaction time tasks. Consistent with the idea that response dominance reflects a tendency toward habitual modes of thought and action, three studies involving 428 undergraduates revealed that trait-outcome and test-retest correlations were higher among individuals higher in response dominance. In Studies 1 and 2, such trait-consistency effects took the form of stronger relations between extraversion and neuroticism, on one hand, and mood states and behavior, on the other. In Study 3, such tendencies took the form of higher test-retest correlations related to daily experiences of mood states, somatic symptoms, and life satisfaction. Together, the studies reveal a consistent effect of response dominance on trait-like consistency and raise some important issues for future studies of the traitedness construct. Keywords: traitedness; reaction time; extraversion; neuroticism; emotion

This study examined the effects of state self-focused attention on sexual arousal and trait self-consciousness on sexual arousal and function in sexually functional (n = 16) and dysfunctional (n = 16) women. Self-focused attention was induced using a 50% reflectant television screen in one of two counterbalanced sessions during which self-report and physiological sexual responses to erotic films were measured. Self-focused attention significantly decreased vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) responses among sexually functional but not dysfunctional women, and substantially decreased correlations between self-report and VPA measures of sexual arousal. Self-focused attention did not significantly impact subjective sexual arousal in sexually functional or dysfunctional women. Trait private self-consciousness was positively related to sexual desire, orgasm, compatibility, contentment and sexual satisfaction. Public self-consciousness was correlated with sexual pain. The findings are discussed in terms of Masters and Johnson's [Masters, W. H. & Johnson, V. E. (1970). Human sexual inadequacy. Boston: Little, Brown) concepts of 'spectatoring' and 'sensate focus.' Keywords: Sexual arousal; Self-focus; Private self-consciousness; Public self-consciousness; Spectatoring

In this essay, two themes--the body and the political and the individual and society--are used to reflect upon the historian's task. By focusing upon the body as represented in the [...]

State and trait anxiety define different aspects of anxiety, and may represent environmentally and genetically mediated components of this phenotype. Furthermore their relationship, where trait anxiety is expressed through levels of state anxiety under threatening circumstances, may represent a process of interplay between a genetic vulnerability factor and an environmental stressor. To test these hypotheses, we explored genetic and environmental influences on measures of state and trait anxiety in a sample of 1058 twins (521 males and 537 females) aged 8-16. The results were consistent with these hypotheses. State anxiety is largely influenced by environmental factors in males and females whereas trait anxiety shows moderate genetic effects and substantial non-shared environment effects. Their association was accounted for by non-shared environmental effects, with modest genetic and shared environmental inputs. The implications of these results for vulnerability mechanisms involving stress reactivity on anxiety are discussed. KEY WORDS: state anxiety; trait anxiety; genetics; twins; children.

Two studies examined the impact of relative differences in access to information and anticipated group interaction on individual reasoning. On 2 different reasoning tasks (P. C. Wason's 11966] selection task and D. Kahneman & A. Tversky's [1973] lawyer--engineer problem), participants sensing that they knew more in anticipation of group interaction or knew less when not anticipating interaction were less susceptible to typical cognitive biases demonstrated by these tasks. Study 2 also showed that the effect of these social contexts was contingent on the task presentation format. Thus, knowing more in anticipation of group interaction and knowing less when not anticipating group interaction seemingly compensated for task features that enhance suboptimal reasoning strategies. These results illustrate the importance of the social context in which reasoning is situated and are discussed in terms of cognitive tuning, social comparison, and social motivations. Keywords. anticipated group interaction, differences in access to information, impact of social context on reasoning, selection task, lawyer--engineer problem

Within social dominance theory (SDT) the invariance hypothesis predicts that men will be higher in social dominance orientation (SDO) even after accounting for cultural or social factors. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the relationship between sex and SDO while controlling for the effects of gender socialization. Our first two studies demonstrated that the sex difference in SDO is mediated by gender socialization and that masculinity and femininity are differentially related to two different forms of SDO. Study 3 extended these results by showing that SDO decreases as a function of feminist identity acquisition. These results suggest that the status hierarchy based on gender has properties of arbitrary classifications such as race, and they call into question the classification of gender as invariant within SDT. KEY WORDS: gender: sex: mediation: social dominance: feminist.

Based on the premise that human head tilt is homologous to animal dominance displays, we hypothesized that when a head is bowed, the face should be perceived as submissive, sad, displaying inferiority emotions (i.e., shame, embarrassment, guilt, humiliation, and respect) and, paradoxically, as contracting the zygomatic major muscle. Conversely, a raised head should be perceived as more dominant and displaying greater superiority emotions (i.e., contempt and pride). We conducted two experiments showing 3-D models of faces to 64 participants. The results confirmed our hypotheses and also showed that a raised head connotes happiness. In addition, we found a significant influence of the actors' sex on participants' perception, such as a bias towards perceiving stronger upward contraction of the mouth in female than male actors when the head is tilted. We discuss these findings within the context of evolution and social behavior. KEY WORDS: dominance; facial emotion displays; head angle; sex; smile.

Two studies examine complementarity (vs. mimicry) of dominant and submissive nonverbal behaviors. In the first study, participants interacted with a confederate who displayed either dominance (through postural expansion) or submission (through postural constriction). On average, participants exposed to a dominant confederate decreased their postural stance, whereas participants exposed to a submissive confederate increased their stance. Further, participants with complementing responses (dominance in response to submission and submission in response to dominance) liked their partner more and were more comfortable than those who mimicked. In the second study, complementarity and mimicry were manipulated, andn complementarity resulted in more liking and comfort than mimicry. The findings speak to the likelihood of hierarchical differentiation.

Much of what is labeled 'patriarchy' in the literature on women's subordination is more accurately described as 'neopatriarchy' and 'phallocentrism.' Neopatriarchy arises when the nuclear family replaces the extended family as the norm and the male head of household is designated as breadwinner. Phallocentrism appears when women challenge male economic domination by entering the labor force and become subordinated due primarily to their sexuality rather than due to their reproductive functions. It is argued that home-based women workers in Mexico are enmeshed in sometimes contested neopatriarchal relations, whereas maquiladora workers are in many cases 'kept in place' through machismo phallocentrism on the part of managers, foremen, and male coworkers. In either case, capitalist enterprise gains a docile labor force. JEL classification: J16; F23 Keywords: Mexico; maquiladoras; gender relations

Differences in speaking time during a group interaction are hypothesized to reflect differences in individual dominance. In order to test this assumption and to identify potential moderator variables influencing the strength of the predicted association, a meta-analysis was conducted. Whether speaking time is used to convey dominance to the same extent that it is used in inferring dominance was tested by contrasting studies concerned with dominance expressed in speaking time with studies of inferred dominance based on speaking time. Overall, and for the investigated subcategories of studies, the relationship between dominance and speaking time was significant. The strength of the associations, however, differed considerably due to the influence of moderator variables. The results showed that inferred dominance studies showed stronger associations between speaking time and dominance as opposed to the expressed dominance studies. Additionally, if dominance was expressed due to dominance-role assignments, the association between speaking time and dominance was stronger than if individuals with different levels of trait dominance interacted. For men, the association between speaking time and dominance was stronger than for women, and same-gender groups showed stronger associations than opposite-gender groups. Also, increasing group size intensified the strength of the association linearly.

The issue of personality and prejudice has been largely investigated in terms of authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. However, these seem more appropriately conceptualized as ideological attitudes than as personality dimensions. The authors describe a causal model linking dual dimensions of personality, social world view, ideological attitudes, and intergroup attitudes. Structural equation modeling with data from American and White Afrikaner students supported the model, suggesting that social conformity and belief in a dangerous world influence authoritarian attitudes, whereas toughmindedness and belief in a competitive jungle world influence social dominance attitudes, and these two ideological attitude dimensions influence intergroup attitudes. The model implies that dual motivational and cognitive processes, which may be activated by different kinds of situational and intergroup dynamics, may underlie 2 distinct dimensions of prejudice.

We employ principles that integrate ideas from two branches of the research program in expectation states theory to explain formation of interaction hierarchies in heterogeneous and homogeneous task groups. According to these principles, initially advantaged actors emerge as dominant members of a group more rapidly in task-related structures (e.g., status, skill) than in nontask-related structures (e.g., sentiment), and when they are advantaged in multiple structures. Initially undifferentiated actors defer to advantaged actors and form an interaction hierarchy through behavioral dynamics. We analyze time spent talking by members of groups characterized either by no initial social structure or by structures defined by status, skill, and/or sentiment. Groups with skill structures fit our principles most closely. In groups with no initial social structure, emergence of a dominant actor occurs, followed by the differentiation of the remaining actors; this pattern is similar to the one we predicted for groups whose initial hierarchy was partially defined. We suggest further strategies for refining theoretical arguments on activation, emergence, and completion of interaction orders.

Three studies examined the independent effects of social acceptance and dominance on self-esteem. In Studies 1 and 2, participants received false feedback regarding their relative acceptance and dominance in a laboratory group, and state self-esteem was assessed. Results indicated that acceptance and dominance feedback had independent effects on self-esteem. Study 2 showed that these effects were not moderated by individual differences in participants' self-reported responsivity to being accepted versus dominant. In Study 3, participants completed multiple measures of perceived dominance, perceived acceptance, and trait self-esteem. Results showed that both perceived dominance and perceived acceptance accounted for unique variance in trait self-esteem, but that perceived acceptance consistently accounted for substantially more variance than perceived dominance. Also, trait self-esteem was related to the degree to which participants felt accepted by specific people in their lives, but not to the degree to which participants thought those individuals perceived them as dominant.

Two studies examined the effect of dominance and power on judgment in an employment interview situation. Sociable applicants were favored by high-dominance interviewers, whereas competent applications were preferred by low-dominance interviewers. Topics discussed include dominance and power motives in interpersonal interaction and clashing motives in dyadic social interaction.

Byline: Ronald M. Harstad (1) Keywords: auctions; experiments; dominant strategy; nonparametric coefficient; restriction test Abstract: Truthful revelation is a dominant strategy in both English (oral ascending bid) and second-price sealed-bid private-values auctions. Controlled observations of English auctions are largely consistent with the dominant strategy prediction, but laboratory second-price auctions exhibit substantial and persistent overbidding, even with prior experience. However, the experience of having bid in an English auction has a significant learning effect, moving bidding in subsequent second-price auctions closer to the dominant strategy. I explore two treatments isolating facets of the lessons learned from English auction participation, leading me to the following conclusions. Part of the lesson carried over appears to be considering prices one-by-one, but most of it appears to be a crude awareness that overbidding leads to losses. A claim that English auction experience teaches subjects to recognize the dominant strategy in second-price auctions seems overly optimistic. I introduce a nonparametric technique to test coefficient restrictions when the assumption of normally distributed errors is untenable. Author Affiliation: (1) Faculty of Management and RUTCOR, Rutgers University, 640 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854-8003, USA Article History: Registration Date: 15/10/2004

The purposes of this study were to examine: (1) students' use of power to gain compliance from instructors, (2) the association between students' use of power and their instructors' power, and (3) students' use of power and the nonverbal immediacy of the instructor. The results revealed that even though students did not feel they had a great amount of influence with their instructors, they used a variety of behavior alteration techniques (BATs) to gain compliance from them. Specifically, students reported using prosocial strategies most frequently and antisocial techniques least frequently. The results also revealed a positive association between students' overall sense of power and their perception of their teachers' power. Instructors' use of reward power was also related to students' use of prosocial BATs. Conversely, instructors' use of coercive power was associated with students' antisocial BATs. Finally, students tended to use expert power more with nonverbally immediate teachers titan nonimmediate teachers. Students' use of BATs did not depend upon the nonverbal immediacy of the instructor. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed. KEY CONCEPTS Power, Behavior Alteration Techniques, Behavior Alteration Messages, Compliance Gaining, Immediacy

A study was conducted to determine the effects of vocal cues on judgments of dominance in an interpersonal influence context. Physical measures of human vocal cues and participant ratings of dominance were obtained from videotapes of actors delivering short influence messages. After controlling for linguistic and visual content of messages, results indicated that mean amplitude and amplitude standard deviation were positively associated with dominance judgments, whereas speech rate was negatively associated with dominance judgments. An unexpected interaction revealed that mean fundamental frequency (F(sub o)) was positively associated with dominance judgments for male speakers but not significantly associated with dominance judgments for female speakers. F(sub o) standard deviation was not significantly associated with dominance judgments. Results support the conclusion that dominance judgments are inferred from multiple sources of information and that some vocal markers of dominance are more influential than others.

Right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation have been proposed as 2 major individual-difference variables underlying prejudice. This study examined the relationships of these variables to 3 forms of prejudice - affective responses, stereotyping, and attitudes toward equality enhancement - directed at 2 social groups - African Americans and homosexuals. Canonical correlation analyses showed that social dominance orientation was related to most forms of prejudice directed toward both groups and that right-wing authoritarianism was related to affective responses to and stereotyping of homosexuals. In addition, it was found that, as predicted by the social dominance model, stereotyping mediated the relationships between social dominance orientation and other forms of prejudice and that social dominance orientation mediated gender differences in expressions of prejudice.

Contrary to a recent claim (D. Maestripieri, 1996), the concept of formal dominance (F. B. M. de Waal, 1986) is not dependent on higher order intentionality (D. C. Dennett, 1983). Instead, it is implied that primates have a concept of relative dominance and express this relational assessment by context-independent, unidirectional status indicators. Present evidence supports the view that primates are able to categorize social relationships. In a semiotic framework, a distinction is made between (a) ritualized displays that are symptoms of acute emotional states (e.g., fear) and (b) formal status indicators that are symbols for a long-term social relationship (e.g., subordination). Criteria to distinguish empirically between these functions relate to species membership and familiarity of interactants, consolidation of relationships, spontaneity of signaling, and specialization of signals.

This study explored the issue of whether status and power differences are expressed in the way men and women hold hands. It was hypothesized that men's hands would be upper in heterosexual handholding couples significantly more often than women's. Also, to explore the possibility that height differences of handholding partners might affect handholding position, all handholding couples observed in this study were classified as couples with men and women of equal height or couples where either the men or women were taller. A total of 1,006 handholding couples were observed, and men's hands were significantly more likely to be the upper one in couples when men were taller than women and in couples where men and women were of equal height, suggesting that, while height does matter, it is less important for this handholding pattern than sex differences.

This study investigated differences in metamotivational dominance among adolescents who engaged in different amounts of substance use, specifically, whether students who labeled themselves as 'heavy' alcohol consumers or cigarette smokers would be more Paratelic and Negativism Dominant than those who labeled themselves 'nondrinkers' or 'nonsmokers.' 93 secondary school students (Years 9 and 10) participated in the study (68 boys, 25 girls). One-way analyses of variance indicated self-labeled heavy drinkers scored significantly more Paratelic Dominant than nondrinkers, while heavy smokers scored significantly more Paratelic and Negativism Dominant than nonsmokers. Paratelic Dominant adolescents who reported engaging in heavy smoking may have done so because smoking is defined by society as a risky behaviour and so provides arousal. Education and preventive programs that focus on health hazards of smoking may, in fact, increase the likelihood of this behaviour by both individuals who score Paratelic and Negativism Dominant.

This exploratory case study provides empirical support for three critical assumptions of empowerment theory. Many empowerment theorists have argued that empowerment takes on multiple forms across people, is contextually embedded, and shifts over time (Rappaport, 1984; Zimmerman, 1990, 1995). To better understand the implications of these assumptions for empowerment theory and the research and intervention methods we employ, the empowerment experiences of 49 employees within a large human service delivery organization were explored. A method well suited to investigate empowerment's assumptions of multiplicity and dynamism--a constructivist approach to inquiry--was employed. Content analyses of interview and observational data revealed that the process of empowerment may be more complex than originally conceived. Not only did multiple meanings and desires for empowerment emerge across employees and between employees and leaders, but several shifting ecologies impacted the employees' lives, causing the employees' empowerment experiences to fluctuate. Empowerment emerged as a dynamic, highly individualistic, contextually layered process. Multiple forms, contexts, and dynamics that influenced employee empowerment are described. Implications of these findings for empowerment research and intervention are discussed. KEY WORDS: Qualitative methods; empowerment; organizational change; social construction.

In men, high levels of endogenous testosterone (T) seem to encourage behavior intended to dominate - to enhance one's status over - other people. Sometimes dominant behavior is aggressive, its apparent intent being to inflict harm on another person, but often dominance is expressed nonaggressively. Sometimes dominant behavior takes the form of antisocial behavior, including rebellion against authority and law breaking. Measurement of T at a single point in time, presumably indicative of a man's basal T level, predicts many of these dominant or antisocial behaviors. T not only affects behavior but also responds to it. The act of competing for dominant status affects male T levels in two ways. First, T rises in the face of a challenge, as if it were an anticipatory response to impending competition. Second, after the competition, T rises in winners and declines in losers. Thus, there is a reciprocity between T and dominance behavior, each affecting the other. We contrast a reciprocal model, in which T level is variable, acting as both a cause and effect of behavior, with a basal model, in which T level is assumed to be a persistent trait that influences behavior. An unusual data set on Air Force veterans, in which data were collected four times over a decade, enables us to compare the basal and reciprocal models as explanations for the relationship between T and divorce. We discuss sociological implications of these models. Keywords: aggression; androgen, antisocial behavior, competition, dominance, testosterone

Theory: This paper uses population ecology theory to account for variance in the dominance of institutions within lobbying communities, dominance first noted by Salisbury (1984). Hypothesis: We extract seven explanations from the literature on interest representation and organization ecology to account for variation in the dominance of institutions within interest communities. Method: OLS regression and ordered logit are employed to test the explanations using two sets of data on interest organizations in the American states: aggregate data on all 50 states and survey data on institutions registered to lobby in six states. Results: Empirical support is found for five of the seven explanations. We discuss the implications of these explanations for understanding how interest communities are constructed.

Research that conversational styles to represent social hierarchy are duplicated in the language used in Japanese women's magazines is presented. Results indicate that language use differences are not based on sex but sociocultural constructs.

This paper examines sex differences in powerful/powerless language (interruptions, disclaimers, hedges, and tag questions) in the small group context by juxtaposing two competing theoretical frameworks. A test of five contrasting hypotheses revealed little support for the dominant 'dual cultures' approach for investigating sex differences (i.e., men will use more powerful language while women will employ more powerless language). Instead results were much more supportive of a 'gender similarities' approach to understanding sex differences, showing no significant differences between women and men in their use of interruptions, hedges, and tag questions. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed for research on sex differences, powerful/powerless language use, and small group communication.

Against a background of growing concern about the failure to reduce cigarette smoking amongst young people, particularly girls, this paper attempts to unravel the complex interrelationships between smoking, peer group structure and gender. We were particularly intrigued to explore a recent hypothesis in the literature that suggests that girls who smoke, far from lacking self-esteem, are more self-confident and socially skilled than their non-smoking peers. Sociometric and qualitative analyses revealed that smoking behaviour was indeed shaped by gender, and that the psychosocial processes involved in smoking uptake may be different for boys and than for girls. Peer group structure, consistently described by young people as hierarchical, was closely related to smoking behaviour. Girls at the top of the social pecking order who projected an image of high self-esteem were identified as most likely to smoke, while only a small minority of girls fitted the stereotype of the young female smoker who has poor social skills and low self-esteem. Boys of high social status were less vulnerable, since sport and a desire to be fit to some extent protected them. Our findings raise fundamental questions about the meaning of self-esteem in relation to smoking uptake, arguing instead for an exploration of the term 'self-worth'. They suggest the need for health education programmes which are sensitive both to gender and to peer group structures. Key words - adolescent girls, smoking

Three decades of research has revealed that people scoring high in Machiavellianism (high Machs) are manipulative and domineering. However, the domineering style of high Machs may preclude them from using manipulations that require a display of weakness. The authors examined whether Machiavellianism moderates the use of sandbagging - a manipulative strategy in which people display low ability to induce an opponent to reduce effort or lower his or her guard. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 198) reported that they would reduce effort in response to a disadvantaged opponent and anticipated that their opponent would behave similarly if they were disadvantaged. In Experiment 2 (N = 66), low Machs in competition sandbagged their opponent when they were uncertain that they could otherwise beat him. High Machs, in contrast, preferred a show of strength to a show of weakness, displaying high ability even when sandbagging might have been an advantageous strategy.

The accessibility of dominance ideation (as opposed to other types of ideation) was measured among parents with high or low perceived power as caregivers. Parents made comparative judgments of self versus child under concurrent memory load or no-load conditions. As predicted, dominance comparisons were found to be highly accessible for low-power parents; that is, attentional load served to increase response latencies in all conditions except those in which low-power parents made dominance judgments. Under cognitive load, low-power parents (unlike high-power parents) rated child as more dominant than self; under no load, however, they rated self as more dominant than child. Decision reversals in the absence of cognitive load were interpreted as 'defensive corrections.' Findings are discussed with respect to the elevated use of coercive control tactics by low-power parents.

High- and low-self-esteem group members received feedback about their individual performance as well as that of their own group and an out-group. They then evaluated both groups. Yoked-control observer individuals also provided group evaluations. In the in-group success/out-group failure condition, in-group enhancement tendencies were attenuated by individual failure feedback and augmented by individual success feedback. Low-self-esteem group members who received individual failure feedback showed favoritism toward the unsuccessful out-group over their own successful in-group. In the in-group failure/out-group success condition, in-group enhancement tendencies were attenuated by individual success feedback and augmented by individual failure feedback. Thus individuals' position in a social hierarchy mediates upward and downward social mobility strategies.

The cognitive implications of the phenomenon of dominance in nonhuman primates and other animals have been poorly addressed. This article shows that the concept of formal dominance currently used in the primatological literature is inherently dependent on the assumption that primates are capable of attribution of knowledge to other individuals. Although this assumption has never been made explicitly, without it the concept of formal dominance is virtually indistinguishable from other, more traditional views of dominance. Recent studies have failed to demonstrate attribution of knowledge in nonhuman primates, thus questioning the validity of formal dominance. The concept of formal dominance was originally proposed to account for a discrepancy between dominance hierarchies based on aggressive behavior and dominance hierarchies based on submissive signals. This article shows that such a discrepancy can be accounted for without invoking complex cognitive processes such as attribution of knowledge.

Two experiments investigated the dominance effect in relative clause descriptions of concept conjunctions such as pets that are also birds. It was shown that the dominance effect is a general phenomenon, both in terms of combined concepts (with 2/3 of the 50 conjunctions studied showing the effect) and in terms of different tasks (membership ratings, exemplar generation, and category naming). A considerable amount of the effect could be accounted for by an unweighted sum of the membership ratings for the 2 constituents. The part of the dominance effect that could not be explained by an unweighted sum was best predicted by exemplar-based pairwise differentiation between the 2 constituents, meaning that dominance partly depends on an interactional process. The pairwise differentiation was shown to be interpretable as proportional overlap of the extension: The constituent for which it was hardest to think of exemplars outside the conjunction dominated. Finally, 2 theories were discussed that can explain the results.